Method of and apparatus for positively transferring shuttles



April 10, 1934. L 1,954,362

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR POSITIVELY TRANSFERRING SHUTTLES Filed March 15, 1929 s Sheets-Sheet 1 CKNTER LN: OFMACHINE. 0 SHUTTLE TNES'S INVENTOR 776 Jo/v/r r///m/ z/cws g BY A TTORNEYS J. LUCAS April 10, 1934.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR POSITIVELY TRANSFERRING SHUTTLES Filed March 15, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 R W m M N 5 k E .0 0 ll \04 V c 7 @Jo nu N U 7 IIWAHL A M RM M f J T S J y B u |I QW Wm 3 mw QM. p wnv M a j mQ HF m T 1 I H: r 4 5 E J. LUCAS METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR POSITIVELY TRANSFERRING SHUTTLES 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 15, 1929 LLL L r! Uqtatm kn ES Iain Q vw B Y A TTORNEVIS' Patented Apr. 10, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Jonathan Lucas,

Savannah, Ga., assigno'r to Lucas-Lamborn Loom Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 15, 1929, Serial No. 347,214

10 Claims.

My invention relates to looms, and more particularly to a method of positively transferring a shuttle through the shed of the loom, and to the apparatus for carrying out the same.

The present invention is an improvement over the shuttle transfer mechanism disclosed in my United States Patent No. 1,624,108, dated April 12, 1927.

The mechanisms heretofore proposed for positively moving a shuttle through the shed of a loom generally included two reciprocating carrier arms which moved simultaneously toward the center and back to the sides of the loom. The arms were adapted alternately to support or become latched to a shuttle, the transfer of the shuttle from one arm to the other being effected as the arms approached or overlapped each other before reaching their innermost positions at the center of the machine. In accomplishing such transfer, the shuttle was generally unlatched from the arm which carried the same before it (the shuttle) reached the center of the machine, and became latched to the other arm as it approached such center, whereupon such other arm, upon reversal of its movement, carried the shuttle to its side of the machine and then back again toward the center thereof to be retransferred to the first arm in a similar fashion.

I have found that when such transfer of the shuttle is made to take place as the shuttle approaches the center of the loom, serious disturbances in the form of violent shocks and stresses, vibrations, noise, etc. set in. These disturbances result from the fact that during the interval of transfer the shuttle is in rapid motion and has a large amount of kinetic energy and momentum. The shuttle, which is released quite suddenly from its carrier arm while the latter is in motion, has the speed of such arm at the moment of release, and, because of its large mass, is possessed of considerable momentum. From the moment of release of the shuttle; the speed of the arm, on the other hand, is quickly reduced by the actuating mechanism and reaches zero when the arm attains its innermost position, after which the arm returns to the side of the machine with gradually increasing speed. The shuttle, however, still has the speed at which it left the carrier arm and consequently flies away from the latter like a projectile and crashes against the other arm approaching it from the opposite direction, and against the latching mechanism thereof. The arms, latching mechanism and shuttle are thus subjected to sudden and powerful impacts which produce enormous stresses, particularly at high speeds, and also a great deal of noise. Where resilient bumpers are employed to reduce the shock they are rapidly worn away and require frequent adjustment and replacement. The parts of such apparatus must moreover be made extra strong and heavy to Withstand the destructive stresses. The violent impacts also produce rapid wear of the various elements and ultimately destroy the proper interfitting thereof so that the operation becomes progressively more and more noisy and unreliable.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above mentioned difficulties and to provide a novel method and apparatus for transferring the shuttle from one arm to the other whereby such transfer is effected at high speed in a positive and reliable manner without shock and impact and with a minimum of noise.

In accordance with the present invention the shuttle is transferred from one arm to the other, not when it is travelling at high speed and possesses considerable momentum, but at the moment that, or very shortly after, such speed and momentum are reduced to zero. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the release of the shuttle from the arm to which it has been latched is made to take place a very short time after the moment that such arm has reached its innermost position (when its speed is zero) and has begun its return movement to the side of the machine with gradually increasing speed. During this short time the speed which the arm is able to attain, and hence the speed of the shuttle Which is still latched thereto, is very small, so that when the shuttle is released and engaged by the cooperating latching mechanism on the other arm, its momentum is likewise very small. The transfer is thus accomplished with practically no shock and is accompanied with only a small amount of noise. V

In carrying out the inventive idea I prefer so to arrange the cooperating latching elements on the shuttle and on the arms that when the arm is in its innermost position at the center of the machine, the shuttle latched thereto is past the center of the machine, i. e. the center of the shuttle is beyond the center of the machine. Upon the return movement of the arm the shuttle travels with it and is automatically released therefrom before it has gained any considerable speed, andis thereuponlatched to the other arm which then carries it in reverse direction to the other side of the machine. This release and latching is] preferably made to take place at approximately the center of the machine. For each pick the shuttle thus travels from one side of the machine to a point past the center thereof, then back to approximately the center and finally to the other side of the machine.

In order to set forth the inventive idea more clearly I shall describe the same with the aid of the accompanying drawings which represent the best form of an apparatus now known to me for carrying out my invention, but it is to be understood that the same is shown only by way of example and not by way of limitation, as shuttle transfer mechanism embodying my invention may take different forms and may be equipped with various kinds of latching devices. In said drawings:

Fig. l is a front view of my improved mechanism, the shuttle being shown in past-center 'position and latched to the left-hand arm, the-arms being at the limit of their inward movement and about to begin their movement to the respective sides of the machine; Fig. 2 is a front View of the guiding frame forming part of the shuttle and showing the sliding frame therein; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the device, showing the position of the parts as the arms approach the longitudinal center of the loom, the shuttle being latched to the right-hand arm; Fig. 5 shows a plan view of the parts illustrated in Fig. 4; Fig. 6 shows the initial engagement of the parts preparatory to the shuttle transfer, the center line of the shuttle and of the loom being coincident; Fig. 7 shows the position of the parts at the limit of the inward movement of the arms, the shuttle having passed the center of the machine; Figs. 8 and 9 show two subsequent positions of the parts as the arms move toward their respective sides of the machines; and Figs. 10 and 11 are plan views of certain of the latching elements.

The shuttle transfer mechanism includes two carrier arms 10 and 10 slidably mounted upon a guideway 11 supported upon the frame of the loom (not shown). The arms are adapted to be reciprocated in opposite directions by any suitable mechanism, such as a crank of the type shown in my Patent No. 1,623,258, dated April 5, 1927, to which they may be connected through links 12 and 12'. The ends of the arms taper to a point to avoid entanglement with any loose warp threads in the shed.

In the subsequent description of the mechanism, wherever numerals appearin duplicate, the numerals without primes will refer to elements mounted on the arms 10 and to such parts of the shuttle as engage or cooperate with such elements; while the numerals with primes will refer to the duplicate parts mounted on the arm 10 and on the shuttle.

The arms 10, 10' are offset along the axis of the machine, as shown in Fig. 5. Offset in opposite directions from their respective arms so as to lie in approximately the same vertical plane, are rigid latches 13, 13' and trips 14, 14, and pivoted hooks 15, 15', the latter being urged downwardly by means of springs in any suitable manner. The latch 13, trip 14, and hook 15 of the arm 10 are in substantially horizontal alignment respectively with the corresponding members on the arm 10'. The latches 13, 13 are provided at their free ends with tongues 16, 16 and with noses 17, 17' for a purpose to be explained hereinafter.

The arms 10, 10' are designed to engage and become alternately latched to a shuttle with the clearly in Figs. 2 and 3 and comprises a bobbin casing 18 within which the bobbin is mounted in any approved manner. Adjoining the bobbin casing and rigid therewith is a guide housing 19 provided With channels 20, 20' adapted to re ceive snugly the arms 10, 1G. The guide housing 19 includes a skeleton framework composed of spaced frames each built up of vertical bars 21 and 21 and horizontal bars 22 and 23 and separated by filler blocks 24, so that an open rectangular parallelopiped is formed. The righthand bars 22 and 23 (Fig. 3) are provided with grooves serving as guideways for a slide 25 upon which are rigidly mounted two spaced cam lugs 2, 26' adapted to be engaged by the hooks 15, 15' on the arms 10, 10' as described hereinbelow.

A cam plate 27 is fixed on the slide 25 in vertical alignment with the lugs 26, 26 and is provided with curved cam surfaces 28, 28. Eccentrically pivoted at 29, 29 between the bars 23 are cam dogs 30, 30' having curved surfaces which are adapted to be engaged by the cam surfaces 28, 28' on movement of the slide 25, the dogs being thereby oscillated about their pivots 29, 29. The cam plate 27 acts also as a stop to limit the downward movement of the dogs in either direction. The cam surfaces are so formed that upon movement of the slide 25 to the left from its central position shown in Fig. 2, the dog 30 Will be forced to assume an inclined position with the inner end uppermost while the dog 30 will be forced to assume a substantially horizontal position, as shown in Fig. 1. Upon movement of the slide 25 to the right the conditions will be reversed. The upper surface of the cam dogs 30, 30 is substantially plane and is adapted to be engaged by the noses 17, 17 on the latches 13, 13 as shown in Figs. 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9. The dogs are provided upon their inner ends with cam notches 31, 31' adapted to be engaged by and receive the tongues l6, 16 as shown in Figs. 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 and are counterweighted as shown at 32, 32 to urge the ends containing the notches 31, 31' upwardly. The dogs may be provided with notches 33, 33 (Fig. 10) on their counterweighted ends which engage abutments or stops 34, 34, the inner faces of the bars 23 to limit the upper movement of such ends to the horizontal position.

Brackets 35, 35' depend from the bars 23 and support pivot pins 36, 36' upon which are mounted latches 37, 37 counterweighted at 3-3, 33'. The outer ends of the latches 37, 37 are offset rearwardly, as viewed in Fig. 2, and as shown more 135 clearly in Fig. 11, so as to lie in the plane of the cam plate 27 and below the same. The latches are provided with notches 39, 39 adapted each to engage the adjacent end of the cam plate 27 and limit the movement thereof. The outer end 149 of each of the latches 37, 37 is provided with an inclined surface adapted to be engaged by the corresponding trip 14 or 14' when the latch is in operative latching engagement with the adjacent end of cam plate 27 as explained below.

The operation of my improved shuttle transfer mechanism is as follows: Assuming that the shuttle is latched to and supported by the righthand arm 10, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, in which the arm is moving toward the center of the ma- 150 1,954,:aea

chine, it will be noted that the arm is engaged in the guideway and in this manner supports the shuttle in horizontal position. The shuttle is latched to the arm by the engagement of the tongue 16 of the rigid latch 13with the notch 31 of the dog 30. The arm thus pushes the shuttle with it by means of the latch 13 and dog 30. The slide is in its extreme right-hand position and is held against leftward displacement by the latch 3'7. Except for a small amount of play, the dog is prevented from being oscillated into the horizontal position and consequently disengaged from the latch 13 by its engagement with the left portion of the cam surface 28.' The hook end of hook 15 is positioned between the lugs 26, 26 but during the inward movement of the arm 10 it does not coact with either of said lugs. The latch 37 rests in horizontal, inoperative position beneath the cam plate 27, while the dog 30 has been forced into the horizontal position by engagement therewith of the left portion of the cam surface 28'.

Fig. 6 shows the position of the parts when the arm has moved so far inwardly that the center 25 line of the shuttle coincides with the center line of the machine. The latch 13 is still in engagement with the dog 30 and pushes the shuttle through the latter. The nose 1'! of latch 13' rides smoothly over the dog 30' which is in horizontal position, while the latch 37 still looks the cam plate 27 against leftward movement and approaches the inclined or cam end of the trip 14 on the arm 10. The hook 15 has ridden up on the inclined face of lug l5 and engaged the unscribed are so positioned and'dimensioned that when the arms are in such position the shuttle has been carried a short distance past the center of the machine. In this way the kinetic energy or momentum stored in the shuttle during its rapid movement from the side to the center, or past-center, of the machine is gradually absorbed by the link 12 and the crank or other mechanism connected thereto while the shuttle is still latched to the arm, so that when the shuttle reaches its past-center position shown in Fig. 7 and the arm is about to be reversed, the shuttle possesses no stored-up energy or momentum. In this position the latch 3"! has been rendered inoperative by the trip 14 but the latch 13 is still engaged within the notch in dog 30. The hook 15 has now advanced so far that the hook portion thereof is positioned between the lugs 26, 26.

As the arms 10, 10 begin their movement toward the side of the machine as indicated in Fig. 8, the shuttle is pulled by the arm 10 to which it remains latched through dog 30 and latch 13 and is thus returned along a portion of the path traversed. Both hooks 37, 37 are inoperative so that the slide 25 is free to be moved to the left. As the arms 10, 10' move away from each other, the hook 15 is urged by its spring into the space between the lugs 26, 26' and engages the lug 26. As the arms continue to separate, the slide 25 is shifted to the left as the rest of the shuttle moves to the right, and clears the notch 39 of latch 37 which is then tilted into operative slidelocking position by its counterweight 38 (Fig. 9.) The cam surfaces 28, 28' are at the same time moved beneath the curvedsurfaces of the dogs '30, 30 while maintaining contact therewith. The cooperating cam surfaces are so formed that as they move relatively to each other the dog 30 is cammed into the horizontal position and disengaged from the tongue 16 while at substantially the same moment the tongue 16' overlies the notch 31 as the dog 30 is cammed into the inclined position shown in Fig. 9. The nose 17', by reciprocating over the dog 30', insures that the dogs and cam plate 27 will be in proper relative position at the moment of shifting of the plate and resulting release and engagement of the latches 13, 13' with the respective dogs. The outlines of the tongues 16, 16 and of the notches 31, 31' are such that these elements gradually engage and become disengaged from each other, and when once engaged they remain so even if the dogs are slightly rocked. As will be clear from a comparison of Figs. 8 and 9, the cam plate 2'7 fixed on slide 25 rides past the notch 39 before the trip 14 disengages the latch 37 so that the latter is maintained in inoperative position. The shuttle which has by this time been moved to the center, or approximately the center, of the machine bythe arm 10 is now completely released from the latter and is latched to the arm 10 through the intermediary of hook 15 and lug 26, and of latch 13 and dog 30', an is pulled by such hook and latch to the left-hand side of the machine.

It will be clear from the above that the shuttle is first moved past the center of the machine by the arm to which it is latched, then returned to approximately the center by the same arm, then pulled by the other arm from such position to its side of the machine, and subsequently pushed by the latter arm to a position past the center of the machine. It will be understood that as the shuttle latching and releasing mechanism on one side of the shuttle and on one arm are duplicated on the other side of the shuttle and on the other arm, the same order of events takes place at every transfer of the shuttle from one arm to the other.

The distance that the shuttle is moved past the center of the mechanism may vary between comparatively wide limits. It will in general be best to make this distance as small as possible so that when the shuttle is returned by the arm to which it is latched to the center position and latched to the other arm, it will have as slow a speed, and consequently as little kinetic energy and momentum, as possible. I have found that very satisfactory results may be obtained when the shuttle actuated by a crank of 9 inch radius is moved about inch past center, which is equivalent to about 10 to 15 degrees movement of such crank.

While for the sake of clearness I have shown and described in great detail the inventive idea embodied in a specific latching mechanism, I wish it to be understood that the method of positively transferring a shuttle disclosed by me may be carried out in various other ways and with other latching mechanisms which will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art; and that I propose to claim broadly the method of positively transferring a shuttle at a point intermediate the sides of the loom from one of two carrier arms to the other after the momentum of the shuttle has been completely absorbed. Such transfer may, for instance, be effected while imparting to the arms a complex motion, as by means of double cranks, such that during the moment of release and transfer of the shuttle the arms travel in the same direction at substantially the same speed; or thetransfer maybe so carried out that the shuttle does not pass the center Fri) of the machine before the releasing and relatching to the other arm. The latches and other movable elements associated with the shuttle and the arms may also be controlled electrically, or both electrically and mechanically.

Other variations may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a loom, the combination of a shuttle, a pair of carrier arms reciprocable toward and away from each other in oifset relation and adapted to support the shuttle in alternate sequence the arms being of such length that they overlap each other at their inner ends at the limit of their inward movement, means for moving said arms constantly in opposite directions at the same rates of speed, cooperating latching elements on said arms and on said shuttle so disposed that when the arms are at the limit of their inward movement the shuttle is past the center of the machine and controlling mechanism, operative to release the shuttle from such arm and latch the same to the other arm at substantially the moment that such shuttle is returned to the center of the machine upon reciprocation of the arm carrying the same, thereby to effect transfer of the shuttle from the one arm to the other.

2. In a loom, the combination of a shuttle, a pair of carrier arms reciprocable toward and away from each other in offset relation and adapted to support the shuttle in alternate sequence, cooperating latching elements on said arms and on said shuttle so disposed that when the arms are at the limit of their inward movement the shuttle is past the center of the machine, and controlling mechanism including a slide, operative to release the shuttle from such arm and latch the same to the other arm at substantially the moment that such shuttle is returned to the center of the machine upon reciprocation of the arm carrying the same, thereby to effect transfer of the shuttle from the one arm to the other.

3. In a loom, the combination of a shuttle, a

" pair of carrier arms reciprocable toward. and

away from each other in offset relation and adapted to support the shuttle in alternate sequence, cooperating latching elements on said arms and on said shuttle so disposed that when the arms are at the limit of their inward movement the shuttle is past the center of the machine, controlling mechanism including a slide, operative to release the shuttle from such arm and latch the same to the other arm at substantially the moment that such shuttle is returned to the center of the machine upon reciprocation of the arm carrying the same, thereby to effect transfer of the shuttle from the one arm to the other, and latching mechanism for locking said slide against movement.

4. In a loom, the combination of a shuttle, a pair of carrier arms reciprocable toward and away from each other in offset relation and adapted to support the shuttle in alternate sequence, cooperating latching elements on said arms and on said shuttle, and controlling mechanism operative to release the shuttle from the arm to which it has been latched and latch the same to the other arm after the arms have reached the limit of their inward movement, thereby to effect transfer of the shuttle from the one arm to the other, said controlling mechanism including a sliding element movable relatively to the shuttle, and means for moving said sliding element.

5. In a loom, the combination of a shuttle, a pairof carrierarms reciprocable toward and away from each other in offset relation and adapted to support the shuttle in alternate sequence, cooperating latching elements on said arms and on said shuttle,'and controlling mechanism operative to release the shuttle from the arm to which it has been latched and latch the same to the other arm after the arms have reached the limit of their inward movement, thereby to effect transfer of the shuttle from the one arm to the other, said controlling mechanism including a sliding element movable relatively to the shuttle, and a hook member on each of said arms adapted to engage said sliding movement to move the same.

6. In a loom, the combination of a shuttle, a pair of carrier arms reciprocable toward and away from each other in offset relation and adapted to support the shuttle in alternate sequence, cooperating latching elements on said arms and on said shuttle so disposed that when the arms are at the limit of their inwardmovement the shuttle is past the center of the machine, a slide on said shuttle movable to different positions and operative on said latching elements to effect substantially simultaneous release of one arm and latching of the other and vice versa, and means for moving said slide from one position to the other.

'7. In a loom, the combination of a shuttle, a pair of carrier arms reciprocable toward and away from each other in offset relation and adapted to support the shuttle in alternate sequence, cooperating latching elements on said arms and on said shuttle so disposed that when the arms are at the limit of their inward movement the shuttle is past the center of the machine, a slide on said shuttle movable to different positions and operative on said latching elements to effect substantially simultaneous release of one arm and latching of the other and vice versa, and means for moving said slide from one position to the other, said means including a hook member on each arm adapted alternately to engage said slide.

8. In a loom, the combination of a shuttle, a pair of carrier arms arranged in offset relation and adapted to support the shuttle in alternate sequence, mechanism for reciprocating said arms continuously in opposite directions toward and away from each other, cooperating latching elements on said arms and on said shuttle, and controlling mechanism operative to release the shuttle from the arm to which it is latched and latch the same to the other arm after the inward movement of both arms has ceased, thereby to effect transfer of the shuttle from the one arm to the other.

9. In a loom, the combination of a shuttle, a pair of carrier arms arranged in offset relation and adapted to support the shuttle in alternate sequence, mechanism for reciprocating said arms continuously in opposite directions toward and away from each other, cooperating latching elements on said arms and on said shuttle, said arms being of such length and the latching elements thereon being so disposed that when the arms are at the limit of their inward movement the center of the shuttle is past the center of the machine, and controlling mechanism operative to release the shuttle from the arm to which it is latched and latch the same to the other arm after the inward movement of both arms 15o the other arm in similar fashion toward such intermediate point from the opposite side of the loom, said arms reaching their inward and outward limits of movement concurrently, moving both said shuttle-carrying arm and the other arm back toward the sides of the loom for a short distance, and then transferring the shuttle to such other arm to be carried by the latter to the said opposite side of the loom.

JONATHAN LUCAS. 

